here is a perfect video showing the power of android and custom roms

[skratch77]

I loved this rom on my gs3 but I don't know if I want to rom my gs4 just yet.Take a look how sick this rom was on the gs3 and now its available on the gs4 as well.

The long press home lock is a must as its a pain sometimes to reach over and hit the side of the cell to put the phone to sleep

This rom basically takes all the best features of the best roms out there and throws it all into a super rom,its got features from all the big devs rolled into one and Im so tempted to try it on verizons gs4

 

[JeffiJers]

had my S4 for one day before installing some LQ AOSP.

Phone would have been for sale if it weren't for aosp as i despise touchwiz.

At first battery life was terrible however I think its getting better as the phone gets a few cycles on it.




Let me say this however, unlike IOS or some stock androids there are a number of bugs and glitches. My phone when waking up from no use and making a call, the ear piece does not work. I have to hang up and redial to get sound.

You will find issues such as connection bugs with bluetooth, wifi, gps.

 

[blackhand1001]

Those issues will be resolved on the 26th once the google edition drops and the source code is released. That will allow for perfect aosp on the snapdragon gs4. That means all us galaxy s4s and the unlocked i9505. The roms are already interchangeable. My Verizon galaxy nexus is bug free on cyanogenmod. Once the galaxy s4 gets nexus status it should be the same.

 

[JeffiJers]

Those issues will be resolved on the 26th once the google edition drops and the source code is released. That will allow for perfect aosp on the snapdragon gs4. That means all us galaxy s4s and the unlocked i9505. The roms are already interchangeable. My Verizon galaxy nexus is bug free on cyanogenmod. Once the galaxy s4 gets nexus status it should be the same.

That is a lot of wish full thinking dont you think? lol Yes the aosp code will help smooth over a lot of the current bugs BUT i dont believe any android phone is 100% bug free. esp those that are just released (google s4)

Galaxy nexus had a number of issues during release and so does the N4.

 

[blackhand1001]

I have been running cyanogenmod as a daily driver since 2011 on my vzw galaxy nexus. It has been rock solid with stability. Even on nightly builds. Trust me. Once the official aosp code is out for the s4 the WiFi Bluetooth and GPS issues will be gone. Theres a huge difference between a phone that has official aosp support and one that developers had to hack the existing drivers to make it work in aosp. When the google edition is released, we will have all the drivers necessary for perfect aosp as well as an official aosp kernel. Cyanogenmod unlike other aosp Roms focuses greatly on stability rather than adding loads of features. It also polishes the features it does add so that they feel stock and not a tacked on addon setting. For the most part any bugs will likely be present in the stock aosp build as well. The difference in stability between official aosp and hacked aosp is huge.

 

[Explicitic]

The only problem I see with AOSP ROMs on the S4 is the IR Blaster. Since the code for it is closed and proprietary it may and will probably never work on ROMs such as CyanogenMod. Even if Samsung somehow decides to release the code for it (which is very unlikely) it won't be added to CM.

 

[blackhand1001]

The only problem I see with AOSP ROMs on the S4 is the IR Blaster. Since the code for it is closed and proprietary it may and will probably never work on ROMs such as CyanogenMod. Even if Samsung somehow decides to release the code for it (which is very unlikely) it won't be added to CM.

Google will release the binaries for it so even it is closed source it will work on aosp. Every nexus phone has had a few closed source drivers. Google always puts them up on their site. The ir blaster will work. The powervr sgx540 in the galaxy nexus has closed source drivers. The reason they can't get it to work now is the current driver is not compatible with aosp. Once the google edition is out there will be a compatible driver. The google edition s4 may not have all the software features of touchwiz but all of the hardware will be functional including the hover touch and the ir blaster. Third party apps and Roms will be able to use those and the hover will still be useful in the browser since it allows you to use drop down menus with the hover action.

 

[2298754]

I used this rom on my S3 for a few days. Quite good

 

[Explicitic]

Google will release the binaries for it so even it is closed source it will work on aosp. Every nexus phone has had a few closed source drivers. Google always puts them up on their site. The ir blaster will work. The powervr sgx540 in the galaxy nexus has closed source drivers. The reason they can't get it to work now is the current driver is not compatible with aosp. Once the google edition is out there will be a compatible driver. The google edition s4 may not have all the software features of touchwiz but all of the hardware will be functional including the hover touch and the ir blaster. Third party apps and Roms will be able to use those and the hover will still be useful in the browser since it allows you to use drop down menus with the hover action.

The CyanogenMod team doesn't add anything outside of pure AOSP. That is what I mean when I say it will never be in CM.

 

[blackhand1001]

The CyanogenMod team doesn't add anything outside of pure AOSP. That is what I mean when I say it will never be in CM.

Not true at all. They even have added pie controls in the latest builds. While there may not be a remote app built into cyanogenmod the drivers for it to work with an app on the play store will be part of aosp for the google edition s4.

You can see all of the closed source drivers for nexus devices right here.
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/drivers

 

[beaniemyman]

that's what i love about android, do whatever you want, complete freedom, you dont get stuck with one same old UI.

 

[inselstudent]

Such a load of options and settings to configure would really drive me crazy, just my opinion, but I neither want nor have the time to do such things on my mobile phone. What matters to me is that essential things work, that the software is reliable.

 

[blitzer09x87]

have any of you tried to root your phone and achieved nothing but a bricked phone? can a bricked phone be repaired? i really want to root my phone and that's why i'm just taking all the precautions.

 

[Krimsonmyst]

have any of you tried to root your phone and achieved nothing but a bricked phone? can a bricked phone be repaired? i really want to root my phone and that's why i'm just taking all the precautions.

Bricking phones is largely avoidable just by reading what you're doing before you do it.

Generally speaking, the only thing you can do that will net you an unfixable bricked phone is flashing software that wasn't meant for it (eg. Flashing a Rom for the octocore s4 when you have the quad-core model).

Even then though, I've seen things work to fix that as well. Android has been refined a lot these days to the point where risk of bricking a device is far, far, far less than it once was.

 

[blackhand1001]

Bricking phones is largely avoidable just by reading what you're doing before you do it.

Generally speaking, the only thing you can do that will net you an unfixable bricked phone is flashing software that wasn't meant for it (eg. Flashing a Rom for the octocore s4 when you have the quad-core model).

Even then though, I've seen things work to fix that as well. Android has been refined a lot these days to the point where risk of bricking a device is far, far, far less than it once was.

The only real way to brick a phone is when flashing a bootloader. The ROMs can pretty much always been fixed as long as you can access the bootloader or download mode (for non nexus Samsung devices). Most likely you won't need to even go that far and you should be able to reflash in recovery right on the device.

 

[maxosx]

that's what i love about android, do whatever you want, complete freedom, you dont get stuck with one same old UI.

Precisely, as well as the fact that for those of you that enjoy learning, the Android platform offers a plethora of opportunities.

I've been running CM on my S4 for quite some time and it's been just excellent.

Personally I don't care if it works with the IR blaster or not, as I have objectives and uses for mine that are of far higher priority in my workflow.

Having been with Android from the beginning with the G1 on T-Mobile, the amount of advances as Android matures has been very impressive. Lately there's so much good news in the Android community it's truly a lot of fun.

 

[3bs]

Those issues will be resolved on the 26th once the google edition drops and the source code is released. That will allow for perfect aosp on the snapdragon gs4. That means all us galaxy s4s and the unlocked i9505. The roms are already interchangeable. My Verizon galaxy nexus is bug free on cyanogenmod. Once the galaxy s4 gets nexus status it should be the same.

We still have some bugs in the recoveries. I don't know if that will help but I sure hope it does.

 

[blitzer09x87]

Bricking phones is largely avoidable just by reading what you're doing before you do it.

Generally speaking, the only thing you can do that will net you an unfixable bricked phone is flashing software that wasn't meant for it (eg. Flashing a Rom for the octocore s4 when you have the quad-core model).

Even then though, I've seen things work to fix that as well. Android has been refined a lot these days to the point where risk of bricking a device is far, far, far less than it once was.

thanks for the info, i'll definitely give it a shot.

 

[Shredder-]

I know nothing about ROMs and stuff, but they all look like a Nexus layout? I've got a Nexus 4, and most options you present (as well as the theme) is already there for me. What is the point of ROM? Is it to get the Pure android versions? (Which Nexus devices already provide?)

 

[viskon]

I know nothing about ROMs and stuff, but they all look like a Nexus layout? I've got a Nexus 4, and most options you present (as well as the theme) is already there for me. What is the point of ROM? Is it to get the Pure android versions? (Which Nexus devices already provide?)

You are right that most custom ROMs look similar appearance wise ( MIUI is an exception). The difference is the features that each ROM brings. For example, in the stock 4.2.2 ROM from Google, there is no option for a full screen view, ie, hide both the bottom nav buttons and the top notification bar. Almost every custom ROM gives you this option. You can go onto XDA and look at the ROMs available for your device. They will have listed out what features they bring to the table.

And yes, for non Nexus devices, custom ROMs are a way to get a stock or otherwise enhanced Android experience.

 

[Fireblade]

I know nothing about ROMs and stuff, but they all look like a Nexus layout? I've got a Nexus 4, and most options you present (as well as the theme) is already there for me. What is the point of ROM? Is it to get the Pure android versions? (Which Nexus devices already provide?)

Only AOSP/AOKP roms look like vanilla android, but there are lots of other Samsung based roms looking completely different.

 

[mattopotamus]

I know nothing about ROMs and stuff, but they all look like a Nexus layout? I've got a Nexus 4, and most options you present (as well as the theme) is already there for me. What is the point of ROM? Is it to get the Pure android versions? (Which Nexus devices already provide?)

You are right that most custom ROMs look similar appearance wise ( MIUI is an exception). The difference is the features that each ROM brings. For example, in the stock 4.2.2 ROM from Google, there is no option for a full screen view, ie, hide both the bottom nav buttons and the top notification bar. Almost every custom ROM gives you this option. You can go onto XDA and look at the ROMs available for your device. They will have listed out what features they bring to the table.

And yes, for non Nexus devices, custom ROMs are a way to get a stock or otherwise enhanced Android experience.

Only AOSP/AOKP roms look like vanilla android, but there are lots of other Samsung based roms looking completely different.

This is pretty much it. Personally, I don't really have a need to root when I am on a nexus b.c I can just add a launcher and fix the few gripes I have (giant ass icons annoy me!). When I use any other non nexus phone, I root it to get a pure android feel, but when I had an HTC one I actually did not mind sense at all.